Former Dallas County Constable Jaime Cortes testified in his felony trial this morning that his top deputy in 2007 delivered him $6,886 cash in campaign money in a box in the parking lot of a north Oak Cliff Mexican restaurant.

Cortes said he believed the money given to him by second-in-command, Ken Hines, outside El Ranchito was comprised mostly of separate contributions of $5 each for raffle tickets his deputies sold. Therefore, he said, he did not think he was legally obligated to itemize the payments on a section of his campaign finance forms for contributions of more than $50 from a single source.

“As far as I know, any monies that anyone gave to Chief Hines were increments of $5 and I don’t have to list people that give increments of $5,” Cortes said.

In some cases, Cortes did document contributions over $50 from a single source, as required by law. It appears those were cases in which the money was paid by check and therefore could be traced.

The raffle scheme is similar to the one that brought down former Precinct 1 Constable Derick Evans, who was convicted of a felony earlier this year.

State law allows nonprofit organizations to hold raffles but forbids them to benefit political campaigns. Cortes was not charged specifically with holding an illegal raffle in part because a two-year statute of limitations had passed.

Defense attorney Wayne Lacy also called a series of witnesses who briefly testified that they know Cortes to have a “good” reputation as it relates to truthfulness. None of them have personal knowledge of the criminal case.

Among those to testify in his support were Hector Flores, past national president of the League of United Latin American Citizens, and John Beckwith, owner of Golden Gate Funeral Home.

Special prosecutors Wolf and Ted Steinke were brought in after Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins said he had a conflict and backed off the case.

Closing arguments are expected this afternoon in the jury trial before state District Judge Jeanine Howard.

UPDATE AT 2:55 P.M.: Prosecutors in closing arguments said Cortes had a legal responsibility to know exactly where his campaign cash was coming from, even if his top deputy was collecting much of the funds.

“He told you that he did the best he could,” Steinke said. “Well, he did not. He turned a blind eye. Don’t let him get away with it.”

Lacy countered that prosecutors had failed to prove that Cortes had intentionally and knowingly defrauded anyone.

“This boils down to criminal intent on behalf of Jaime Cortes,” Lacy said. “Do you believe he acted in a manner with criminal intent under these circumstances?”

“The state’s case has missed its mark,” Lacy said.

Wolf acknowledged in the final closing arguments that the difficulty in proving a case like this one is that the accused has exclusive control over the numbers.

He pointed to several holes in the defense arguments. If Cortes thought the box of cash Hines gave him was comprised of donations made in $5 increments, for example, it should have added up to a multiple of five. The total was $6,886.

Wolf also said they believe the total sales of all the raffle tickets would have exceeded the total contributions Cortes reported in campaign finance documents. And he highlighted the fact that it was Hines who ultimately won the top prize in the raffle, a 20-inch LCD television.

Hines’s name did not appear on the campaign finance forms.

“Are we to believe that Hines bought one ticket and by those odds he won?” Wolf asked.

But it was the testimony of Cortes’s long-time friend that prosecutors highlighted as among the most important evidence.

Lt. Richard Talamantez testified on Tuesday that he gave Cortes $250 cash directly for the raffle tickets. Yet his name did not appear on campaign finance forms.

Cortes claimed the money was a repayment of a loan.

“For Cortes’s case to be believed, Talamantez could not have been telling the truth,” Wolf said. “The only person who had anything to gain by not telling the truth about Talamantez is Jaime Cortes.”